Amphibian Egg Mass Monitoring

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• Stillwaters’ Amphibian Egg Mass Monitoring is part of a county-wide program by Kitsap County Public Works Stormwater Division to document frog and salamander use of county stormwater ponds as breeding sites.
• ​This monitoring program will help inform future county maintenance of stormwater ponds and help develop more amphibian-friendly practices.​
• For more information on Kitsap County’s Amphibian Egg Mass Monitoring and how to participate in your area (even from your own pond!), please contact Renee Scherdnik, at rscherdn@co.kitsap.wa.us.

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Volunteers Gloria Hill and Elizabeth Williams prepare to record data.

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Melissa Fleming, Program Director, gently searches for egg masses below the water's surface.

My First Amphibian Monitoring Experience
Terry Pereida; Stillwaters Administrative Director

I had the recent experience of tagging along for Stillwaters’ Amphibian Egg Mass Monitoring, part of a county-wide program. We visited two storm water ponds in Kingston. When our Program Director, Dr. Melissa Fleming, pointed out the first amphibian egg mass, I was reminded of a large “jelly” open-air sphere toy that my kids once played with. Looking as if it is almost woven together, the mass of eggs hovered just below the surface, and had a certain sparkle to it. Depending on the available aquatic vegetation, they will attach themselves to a variety of grass, reeds, or woody debris. One pond had been dredged to remove overgrowth last summer and was so void of vegetation that we tossed in a few branches with small twigs to give the amphibians something to attach egg masses to.

Inside the egg mass, the live embryos appear as black spots. If the spots are white, that’s an indication that the eggs were laid too close to the surface and froze to death. What was amazing to me, bystander and photographer, was that Melissa was keenly aware of the differences observed from just two weeks prior. She knew right where to look to monitor embryo growth and development, in addition to identifying new egg masses of northern red-legged frog, Pacific tree frog, and northwestern salamander.

​It makes sense that the larger amphibians have larger egg masses. Melissa describes the northwestern salamander egg mass as a “tennis ball with a stick through it” and the red-legged frog mass as a “cluster of grapes.” As the egg mass ages and tadpoles hatch, the mass begins to lose shape and fall apart. (See images below. For scale, the plastic lid is 5 in. in diameter.)

NORTHWEST SALAMANDER EGG MASS

RED-LEGGED FROG EGG MASS

PACIFIC TREE FROG (February 2021)

Recently, Stillwaters volunteers found 100 more Pacific tree frog eggs masses than they did two weeks ago. This is not surprising given the increasing din of nighttime frog choruses after our cold snap in February! If you should hear a frog call that sounds like a “bango twang” (instead of “ribbit, ribbit,”) you might be hearing the non-native Green frog. Stillwaters would like to remind everyone to be on the lookout for this potentially invasive species that can be identified by the prominent eardrums right behind its eyes. In the native Pacific tree frog or northern red-legged frog, the eardrums are significantly smaller and hidden by a dark “mask.” If you think you’ve seen or heard Green frogs, please let us know when and where by calling Stillwaters Environmental Center at 360-297-1226 or e-mailing our Program Director at melissa@stillwatersenvironmentalcenter.org .
 

Stillwaters’ staff and volunteers continue amphibian monitoring twice a month until early summer. Assisting Dr. Fleming was Program Assistant, Jenna Wright, and volunteers, Gloria Hill and Elizabeth Williams.  Stillwaters’ data are reported back to Kitsap County including details on amphibian species, egg stage of development, and to what the egg mass is attached.  For more information on the Green frog, CLICK HERE to visit our Green Frog Monitoring page.

A northwest salamander egg mass
shimmers ​in the water.

Pacific tree frog egg mass.

Red-legged frog egg mass.